Bee Ridge Wastewater Settlement Agreement Finalized

This email today from Justin Bloom, attorney for Suncoast Waterkeeper and additional plaintiffs whose wastewater lawsuit will bring advanced wastewater treatment to Sarasota County.

Bloom wrote:

Today the Federal Judge approved our settlement and dismissed the case, while retaining jurisdiction to allow us to ensure that the County follows through on the many commitments made within the settlement.  In 14 days, they start facing stipulated penalties for new spills - and failures to follow-through on all the commitment (injunctive relief) items set forth in the settlement.   

On behalf of Suncoast Waterkeeper, our co-plaintiffs Ecological Rights Foundation, Our Children's Earth Foundation, our stellar lead counsel, Kaki Schmidt, I thank you for your time and your willingness to step up and help fight to protect our waterways.  It is a big win.

Below is the title page followed by the key rulings and the key monitoring of the upgrade to the county's wastewater system at Bee Ridge Extension, which is due for completion by 2025.

We as a community owe a large debt of gratitude to Mr. Bloom and his team for their essential intervention into a longstanding ecologic and infrastructure disgrace.

• Stipulated Order of Dismissal and Court's Retention of Supervision

• Attachment A to Stipulated Order

Oops we did it again

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF Environmental Protection Marjory Stoneman Douglas Building 3900 Commonwealth Boulevard Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3000

Ron DeSantis Governor Jeanette Nuñez Lt. Governor Noah Valenstein Secretary

---

Notice of Submission Pursuant to Section 403.077, F.S., the Department of Environmental Protection has received the following Public Notice of Pollution for a reportable release. All information displayed was submitted by the reporting party. Type of Notice: Initial Report Date of Notice: 08/15/2019 Incident Information Name of Incident: BR WRF Reuse 081519 State Watch Office Case Number: 4596 Start of Incident: 08/15/2019 10:30 Incident is on-going as of: 08/15/2019 16:01 Incident Description Earlier this morning, due to the continuous rains and flooding conditions in the area, the reclaimed water storage pond at the Bee Ridge Water Reclamation Facility began to overflow through the emergency spillway. Reclaimed water in the pond is water that has been fully treated, meets all public access reuse standards and is typically used for irrigation purposes. Staff has begun sampling at the pond and downstream to monitor the effects of the emergency discharge. Staff will continue to monitor the situation and make every effort to minimize the volume and duration of the event. We will monitor the water flowing from our reuse holding pond to Philippi Creek, and take samples Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until such time that the demand for reuse increases, and the spill ceases. Incident Location Facility/Installation Name: Bee Ridge WRF Address Line 1: Address Line 2: Directions: City: State: FL Zip Code: Coordinates (in decimal degrees): Lat: 27.301835838888838, Long: -82.39068863589023 Click to view Incident Location Impacted Counties: Sarasota Incident Reported By Name: David Hawkins Title: Chief Operator Phone: (941) 861-6790 E-mail Address: dhawkins@scgov.net On-Site Contact Name: Patricia Nihart Phone: (941) 861-6790 Ext: E-mail Address: pnihart@scgov.net To view a list of all received Public Notices of Pollution or to modify your e-mail subscription settings, please click the link below: Public Notice of Pollution Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Update: Pat Neal explains waste spill caused by his workers